Now that your business is growing, you must step up your digital marketing to find a niche in this aggressive market. Being able to carve out your path across search engines is integral for any local business wanting to reach its target audience. You might have even heard the terms Local vs. National SEO.
This is where search engine optimization efforts come in. SEO strategies focus on getting your business website to the top of the search engine results by coordinating your digital marketing to reach your target audience. The better your ranking in search engine results, the more chances you will get website traffic and exposure. National companies pay a lot of money to get SEO services that can push organic traffic to their sites. They use Google Analytics to see how Google SERP (search engine results page) might affect their Page SEO. The business information gained from that data can be integral in.
SEO strategies are important for any business to grow and expand its audience. This is why it is integral for companies to know which company can help them get to the next level. We even can further divide SEO strategies into two: local SEO and national SEO. With these SEO strategies, your business website will have a competitive advantage over the average business owner. Both local SEO and National SEO have their uses in the market.
What to know about Local and National SEO
National SEO is a high-level type of digital marketing that focuses on website search engine results hitting a national level. Unlike local SEO, National SEO campaigns focus on a broad appeal that can be translated well on social media websites and search engines. By hitting the customer on all fronts with different types of marketing and compounding content, a national company can get the attention of the audience. This is an important investment as most people usually click the top results they find online using search engines.
Local SEO, on the other hand, focuses on one specific area to market with. This means knowing your local community and local consumers intimately. With that, you create a marketing campaign that focuses on local keywords that will lead Google analytics to your business page. Local SEO efforts are usually targeted for local search engines and word of mouth by your support community.
The Differences between Local SEO and National SEO campaigns.
Most people believe that National SEO is just Local SEO implemented nationally. That isn't the case. What you can do locally isn't applicable at a national level as it only looks at things at a macro level. By zooming in, you will notice factors that can radically change how SEO functions. Companies in the know can deliver results because they know the basic concepts of SEO creation. National and local SEO deal with their problems with different solutions.
Target audience Local SEO targets a small-scale geographic location that is specific to that region. Depending on your area, this can radically differ from city to city. Thus using that at a national level will leave gaps in your process. Local SEO feels a lot more homegrown since it tackles keywords that are unique to that region.
SEO site structure Your website needs to cater to a broader range of people for it to work on a national level. A local SEO site would only need a few service pages, but a larger scale needs to factor in multiple services for each city and possible differences of each location.
Keyword Research By scaling up, the keyword search you need to do would be much broader to accommodate a larger group of people in multiple locations. Local SEO focuses on specific keywords that pop up during local search queries.
Connection Local SEO allows you to easily condense your connection with your leads because of the general closeness you have. At a large scale, you would need to be able to market and connect with more people with different backgrounds. Local companies strive to create a more personal approach when handling their Page SEO vs. National SEO which is more about broad appeal. Scaling up your local SEO to National SEO isn't just making everything bigger. It addresses the gaps in your plan when going macro.
Examples of Local SEO vs. National SEO
A great way to explain the differences is by pointing out two different websites that are implementing Local vs. national SEO campaigns.
For Local SEO, we have the LOCAL Bug Guy website. As you can see, this website focuses on one specific area to attract local customers within the local community. This gives them an edge during search results when looking for pest control within their area.
Their Local SEO also focuses on hitting it high when you use Google searches for it in their area. Local companies like them feel more approachable to their community. Local SEO doesn't mean it is of lower quality. It just means the focus of the marketing is specific.
As for National SEO, we can turn to Coca-Cola. Being a national company, they need to be able to use its digital marketing to attract a larger audience. This means a carefully planned National SEO reputation management.
You might be asking what is the point of reputation management for a national brand. Being able to market yourself to a bigger audience with little friction means a higher chance of returning customers.
Their website focuses on a national level of marketing by being broader and having more features. High-quality content is also a big focus of their company to get more traction. You've seen the Christmas commercials and ads they do. That is part of a national SEO campaign that keeps them at the forefront of customers.
Should a Local Business Focus On National SEO Campaigns?
Now that you know more about Local vs. national SEO campaigns, you might be asking if a local business owner should focus on national SEO when trying to get to their local customers. The answer for that is a resounding Yes. You start with a Local SEO campaign and make your site search engine friendly by adding keywords specific to your area.
Local search results about your business can greatly affect how your local traffic will appear when you use Google analytics later.
Innovation is the key to success for any business. The goal of small businesses is to expand and reach potential customers with high-quality content and services. Eventually, you would need to pivot from local SEO strategies to national SEO campaigns. So by planning accordingly, you will still be able to take parts of your local SEO strategy and apply it to a national or global level. Just because your local SEO campaign won't work forever as you grow doesn't mean you can't use some of it for your new national SEO campaign. By pivoting from local SEO to National, you are opening your company to potential customers and growth.
The Turning Point from Local SEO to National SEO
Now that you know about Local SEO vs. National SEO, we can discuss the right time to pivot to a greater scale. Potential customers can be found across the country, which means you have an entirely untapped market to explore. You might have noticed how local businesses are suddenly expanding and opening branches to serve the local markets around your area better.
We can see 3 clear indicators of when your business is ready to go head to head with national companies.
You have an established audience for your product Local SEO was about generating a local audience by leveraging your local search results with SEO techniques. Without a solid audience to carry you to your expansion, you won't be able to survive. National SEO services help you expand your audience. However, during that period of growth, you still need to have a core audience who can help generate organic SEO by being your biggest advocate. They can generate organic traffic to your site, post reviews about how great you are, and even tell their friends. In tandem with the National SEO services, they can help boost your domain authority.
You have a solid expansion plan. Brick-and-mortar local businesses across the country are trying to find a place in the local market with the advancement of technology. Having a physical location for your store is good, but that only means you are only hitting the local audience. This can be limiting when you're finally ready to spread out. Local companies wanting to expand must diversify their strategy from just hitting the top spot on local searches. To do that, you first need to know your brand. By knowing this, you can do keyword research that can help you pinpoint the best keywords for search results. National companies invest in link building to generate social proof when local customers online do mobile searches for their needs. This means creating a user-friendly website that entices people to visit your page. This means creating catchy meta descriptions that will pique the interest of customers. From there, you can proceed with creating high-quality content that can be highly shareable. This would also mean expanding beyond your physical location and opening online shops. All of these factors contribute to your domain authority, which leads to a successful launch. That might seem like a lot, but those are the basics that an SEO company will do to help you go from a local SEO campaign to a national campaign.
You have the capital. This is probably the most ignored aspect of your new launch from Local SEO to a national one. Growing a business takes a lot of money. Hiring an SEO company might seem like a lot, but this is an investment. Local SEO can only take you so far when you want to expand.
This means you need to have enough funds to cover your business expenses for a year at the very least. This will give you some breathing room while the SEO company utilizes its SEO techniques to get your domain authority higher in the ranking.
Having a business is about factoring in all the risk and reward you can get for each decision. Without a safety net to soften a potential fall, you risk your business closing if things don’t turn out as you want. By planning, you will be able to keep yourself afloat while you go through the growth process of your company.
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